I hope this kind of character piece catches on.
Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe is a tie-in TV movie set in the universe of Burn Notice, USA's spy-fi action drama. It follows the exploits of the titular axe-man, a roguish Navy SEAL played by the one and only Bruce Campbell. Axe is an auxiliary character in the series proper, but in this two-hour movie event, he's the star of the show. The Fall of Sam Axe traces the character's backstory and explores the events which led him to retire from the SEALs, revealing some key details about the series regular and fan favorite. Wanna know why Sam Axe always calls himself 'Chuck Finley' in the field? Yeah, it's in there.
The plot of the movie is pretty standard covert-ops fare, with a distinctly Campbellian twist. Is that an OK word to use? Campbellian? Well, whatever. Dude deserves his own genre. Anyway, the movie opens with a frame story: Our boy Axe is under investigation by the Navy SEALs regarding a rather controversial operation in South America that resulted in significant loss of property and life. As Sam states his case, we get to watch the mission unfold, beginning to end. As the story goes, Sam Axe is, unsurprisingly, engaged in some passionate misbehavior with a blonde bombshell when he makes a troubling discovery: His fling is, in fact, the wife of a high-ranking Navy admiral. To take revenge on Axe for his carnal misdeeds, the admiral ships our hero off to Colombia, with orders to investigate a local terrorist cell. When he arrives in Colombia, however, Sam Axe discovers that all is not as it seems. The Colombian agents and politicians with whom he's expected to collaborate are a little less than trustworthy--and the terrorists aren't as nasty as they sound. With his former allies at his back and a clinic full of innocents to protect, Axe has to go all-out in the way only Bruce Campbell can. Deception, improvisation, and sheer two-fisted heroism are all part of the plan.
For Burn Notice newbies (like me), The Fall of Sam Axe makes a perfectly good stand-alone movie. I feel, having seen the made-for-TV flick, that I'm now familiar with the series' distinctive action timing and off-the-cuff style of humor. Bruce Campbell fans will most likely fall head over combat-booted heels for this one, since the man himself gets plenty of opportunities to shine. Watching Campbell coach some rather green combatants in a couple of effective montages (even Rocky had a montage) is surprisingly fun. Of course, series fans have a reason to tune in--the movie serves as a lead-in for the upcoming fifth season. Those who don't fall into any of these camps--curious series newbie, Campbell-ite, or series diehard--will probably find The Fall of Sam Axe an unremarkable, but inoffensive, action movie.
Sum...ology: As good an excuse as any to pay proper tribute to the king.
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